Sometimes sites also write a bunch of questions, or just start with the most common issues, and go from there. StackOverflow was initially seeded with questions from, I believe, the now defunct JoelOnSoftware forums.
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jeffluntDec 22 '11 at 15:31

Oh, really? I thought the original version of SO came from existing .Net questions from another platform? Maybe I got that story completely wrong (I've certainly done worse in life). I guess that's beside the point that you make in the meta you referenced here, where quality suffered as a result, and it therefore being a bad idea regardless.
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jeffluntDec 27 '11 at 18:14